Like most people on the planet, I love sugar cookies. The thing I don’t like about sugar cookies is rolling out the dough, cutting the shapes, gathering the scraps, re-rolling, re-cutting. . . you know the drill. It’s a pretty time consuming process. Sometimes I want fun sugar cookie shapes, but sometimes we’re just in the mood for sugar cookies. One of my facebook friends mentioned a few months ago that she just rolls her sugar cookie dough into balls, then presses them flat on the cookie sheet. Genius! I gave it a try, and I haven’t made sugar cookies with cookie cutters since then. This is so much easier!
For this sugar cookie recipe, I combined my favorite sugar cookie recipe with a recipe I found online that I made, but didn’t love because the cookies weren’t very flavorful. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The secret to the awesome flavor of these sugar cookies (and my other favorite recipe), is the almond extract. Most people don’t recognize what it is, they just comment on how yummy the cookies taste!
These sugar cookies are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread. Kinda crispy, kinda chewy, nice and buttery. If you’re looking for puffy, cakey, soft sugar cookies, these are not them.
I’ve made these for a couple of church activities, and delivered them to a few friends. Everyone has raved about them. I’ve had several recipe requests, and several friends who know about my website have been asking when I’m going to get around to posting the recipe already. So here it is. Enjoy! 🙂
Roll and Press Shortbread Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
5 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
About 1/4 cup of sugar for pressing cookies
Cream butter, oil, and sugar till smooth and creamy. Beat in milk, vanilla, almond extract, and eggs. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir into wet ingredients till thoroughly combined. Roll in 1 1/4″ balls, place on lightly greased or silpat lined pans. Dip a glass in sugar and flatten cookies till thin. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes. After a couple minutes, remove to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup soft butter
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
Milk if needed
Beat cream cheese and butter till smooth. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add milk as needed to make a spreadable consistency.
-Makes about 5 dozen cookies
These are my go to products every time I make cookies! (affiliate links)
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Joy
January 4, 2015 at 11:51 amI made these cookies on 1-3-15 and they were amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! They were super easy and I liked the fact that they didn’t need to be refrigerated before baking and that I didn’t have to roll them out like traditional sugar cookies. These tasted way better that roll-out sugar cookies, in my opinion! Thanks for the recipe……it’s nice when people share!
Kara
January 21, 2015 at 10:52 pmSo glad you liked the cookies as much as I do Joy!
Jessica
July 14, 2014 at 4:04 pmCan you use margarine or does it have to be butter?
Kara
July 22, 2014 at 7:02 pmButter is necessary for a shortbread consistency and flavor. You can use margarine, and the cookies will still taste good, but they won’t be the same.
Kara
March 27, 2014 at 9:32 pmPink is my favorite too! And even my four boys don’t mind pink when it comes on top of something as yummy as one of these cookies. 🙂
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
March 27, 2014 at 8:15 pmThese have my mouth watering… I may need to bake a batch of these up next week! Plus, my daughter loves pink, so I am sure it’ll be a huge hit with her!
Trish - Mom On Timeout
March 26, 2014 at 12:08 pmThese cookies are amazing Kara – and so pretty too!
Kara
March 26, 2014 at 12:18 pmThanks Trish!
Shannon
March 24, 2014 at 11:07 amI’ve never thought of just rolling balls and flattening them. They look like little flowers–why not?! This recipe sounds great. You had me when you said they are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread. Thanks for sharing!
Kara
March 25, 2014 at 4:00 pmI never thought about it before, but they do look kind of like flowers. Bonus!